Mariners fight Yankees for real, win 6-3

A surprise from below

Lately, for no particular reason (other than it’s very good) I’ve been rewatching the Star Wars show Andor. When the first season came out in the Fall of 2022, it quickly became my favorite Star Wars show and one of my overall favorite Star Wars stories (some of the — admittedly kind of bad — books still hold a special place in my heart).

In a setting that is, in my opinion, too often about special chosen people winning because they are special and chosen, Andor tells a grounded story about everyday people facing off against an inhuman, monolithic, and omnipresent empire. It’s storytelling makes the fictional planets it takes place on feel like real places, and the characters like people you could pass on the street.

As you may recall, dear reader, I have written about Star Wars before on this humble volcano blog, and I have compared many a Mariner to the heroes of a galaxy far, far away. Yet in tonight’s Star Wars ‘cap, I invoke Andor because, with the exception of a couple cameos, it wasn’t the usual heroes who led the way tonight.

Bryan Woo pitched his 100 major league inning today. And he reached that century mark facing off against the dreaded Yankees, who have some of the best power bats and one of the toughest parks to pitch in. The team is still going easy on him after his IL stint, with Scott Servais saying he was limited to 80 pitches today.

And yet.

Feeding the Yankees a steady diet of 4 seamers and sinkers, Woo carved through the dreaded bombers like carving a fresh-baked Correlian ryshcate. In his 6 innings of work, he gave up 0 walks, just two hits, and struck out 7 Yankees, including getting Juan Soto and Aaron Judge back to back in the 4th.

But they didn’t all come as strikeouts. Sometimes Woo had to rely on his compatriots to keep the Yanks from attacking the Mariners’ secret base. Luckily, Dom Canzone is an ace pilot, and he was ready for take off.

But it takes more than a dazzling pitcher and an outfield controller to take the fight to the Empire State. You need to be able to deal damage yourself. And the Mariners have plenty of bats who would love to crush the Yankees.

Ty France has, perhaps predictably, fallen off his early season high, and now looks more like a regular hitter. His Savant bubbles all hover around the 50th percentile mark. But he still has one thing going for him: he hits the ball as hard as ever, with a career high HardHit% early on in this season. Would you like to see a hard hit ball? I would.

Luke Raley, also in his age 29 season, is an interesting foil for Ty. Raley is fast (86th percentile sprint speed), and is currently climbing is way up to league average after a slump in April. But he does have something in common with his chronological compatriot. He also hits the ball hard.

With all these players stepping up, ready, willing, prepared to fight, someone is going to have to corral their skills and point them at the target.

Which brings us, finally to Dylan Moore. Moore has been in this fight in Seattle since he was 6 years old. Or something like that. He came here just after the end of the 2018 season. The following year he did little to ingratiate himself in his first start when he made three errors on three opportunities at third base. Who among hasn’t embarrassed themselves starting a new job or meeting new people? Of course, he did something later in 2019 that we remember more.

Suffice to say, he is a veteran with a checkered past. A man who has, for the last half decade, built his life here in Seattle. With a decidedly average career wRC+ of 103, he has, in many cases faded into the background, relegated to being just a familiar face we see sometimes. But anyone and everyone can be a hero. No matter who or what you face. Tonight, the hero was Dylan Moore.

In the third inning he hit this home run into left field, cashing in on a Josh Rojas double. It was this lead that allowed Bryan Woo to settle in and have the fantastic start he did. Later, in the 7th, he connected with a hanging slider and lined it into center field, scoring Mitch Garver and giving the Mariners a 4 run lead.

That cushion would become crucial when the inning turned over and Trent Thornton found out what happens when you underestimate the Empire State, giving up a three run bomb to Gleyber Torres. For a moment it seemed like the Mariners may not get away with this one. As we saw last night, a one-run lead can turn into a one-run deficit in a hurry.

But it was no matter for D-Mo, who still had one more at bat.

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. But eventually, all these moments will flood the banks and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. And it could come from anywhere or anyone. Be it the veteran, the new kid, or any number of people who were given away. From the bottom of the order or the rotation, surprise from below will carry the day.